How many genes do chimpanzees have on their chromosomes?

Answer 1

It would be very likely that chimpanzees have about as many genes as we humans have, which was found to be about 22 thousand. It could potentially increase, but with our techniques getting better and better, it would not increase very much. For example, it wouldn't increase from the year 2012's numbers to 40 thousand in one jump. It'd probably stay near 20-25 thousand.

Genes account for about 1% of our total genome. Genes code for proteins. Genome consists of much more than just genes, for example pseudogenes. Genes is a misused term in our media.

The reason I say that chimpanzees will have about as many genes as we do is because genes are a more important part of our genome. Changing genes occurs slower over time than the changing of the other parts of the genome because they are more sensitive. That is not to say that the other parts of the genome cannot be as sensitive, just that certain genes especially are more sensitive than other parts. Take for example a bridge. Let's say we built a bridge, but we started with green bricks at the bottom. We then used red bricks at the top of the bridge. If we changed these green bricks at the bottom, it'd probably mess up the entire bridge, whereas if we only messed with the red bricks at the top of the bridge, the infrustructure would not crumble. This is only one of the reasons that some genes are more sensitive than others, and in general more sensitive than some other parts of the genome.

I said way too much!

-Thomas the bio guy